Third Iteration Online IT Decision-assistive Tool (OITDAT)

The OITDAT is intended to offer decision-makers with unrestricted access (anytime and from any location) to a decision support system for IT choices. The development of an automated and interactive IT decision-assistive tool to support SE decision-makers is driven by the characteristics of SE owner-managers described in (Brunetto & Farr-Wharton, 2007; Love & Irani, 2004; Salles, 2006). Also, the findings from the data gathered during the interviews showed that most SEs are using at least one online presence technology. It implies that a web- based (online) artefact will offer a more pragmatic intervention to IT decision making challenges in SEs (Alhassan & Van Belle, 2017a).

The OITDAT is the third phase of a prototype design to demonstrate the EADF as an artefact to support the SEs’ IT decision-making process. This demonstrates the research rigour to achieve the research objectives (Hevner et al., 2004; Markus, Majchrzak, & Gasser, 2002). The OITDAT focuses on two major IT decisions, that is, CRM and Online presence decisions. Decision criteria were ranked and assigned to relevant feedback and recommendations. The process of the OITDAT commenced with a well-conceptualised Use Case diagram and a planned web- structure. The UML diagram presents a graphical representation of the system that is under design, implementation or functional. The structural and the behavioural diagrams are two major categories of UML. The Use Case diagram is a behavioural diagram that illustrates the action a system or subsystem can perform with the external users which are named as actors (Rumbaugh, Jacobson, & Booch, 2004). The Use Case diagram provided a comprehensive view of the system and allowed the demonstration of a scenario which brings to light any missing functional requirement (Bruegge & Dutoit, 2009). Figure 7-6 is a UML Use Case diagram that depicts the privileges of the three main actors of the OITDAT as follows:

1. The Designer – the researcher who develop the OITDAT.

2. The Content Provider - the person who applies the EADF concepts to populate the OITDAT with IT decisions. That is, a consultant, content manager, or IT specialist. 3. The User - the SE owner-manager who uses the OITDAT.

The designer of the OITDAT has populated the artefact with two types of IT decisions to prove the validity of the concept. However, the content provider will have the privilege to upload

more IT decision for SE owner-managers. The content providers can upload new IT decisions in XML or Spreadsheet Format. Appendix A7 shows the various features of the OITDAT that can be accessed by the three parties.

User Content Provider Artefact Designer Assess IT Decision Acces Resources Access Forum Upload Resouces Login to UX Create IT Decision Use Case Access Back- end Create Architecture for IT Decision Use Case Create Architecture for Resource Create Architecture for Forum <<include>> <<include>> <<include>> <<include>> <<include>>

Figure 7-6: UML Use Case for OITDAT

As illustrated in Figure 7-7, the decision-maker (who is assumed to be the SE owner-manager or the User) can perform an IT decision assessment, access the forum, and view or add resources to the portal. The artefact developer or manager (the researcher or IT professional) can follow the guidelines to add an IT decision assessment, create a forum, and add resources to be viewed on the website.

The web structure diagram shows a conceptual model of the proposed website. The objective of designing a web structure is to create a pictorial structure of the website and assess the relationship between the web pages. The planning stage of web development is significant in developing a website (Van Duyne, Landay, & Hong, 2002). As illustrated in Figure 7-7, the OITDAT composed of four key components such IT decision assessment, back-end (admin), resources, and forum. The IT decision assessment is the section that allows SE owner-managers (User) to evaluate their IT decisions against business criteria, capabilities, and preferences. The back-end is the Designer’s and Content Provider’s (administrator) interface where the

discussing different IT decisions issues relating to SEs. The resources section is a collection of useful materials that can guide decision makers in their IT choices. As shown in Figure 7-7, the users need to login with their credentials to assess their business for any IT decision, enabling the OITDAT save their responses. The responses of the users are saved onto the system for subsequent analysis or if their criteria changes.

Django, a Python web framework, was identified as a programming tool for the development of the OITDAT. The justification for the choice of Django/Python has been described in Chapter Four. All questions, responses, feedback, and architectural principles in the SITDA were converted into a structured database as illustrated in the entity relationship (ER) diagram in Figure 7-8. The Appendix 7 depicts some screenshots from the online IT decision website hosted on “www.ea4ses.epreludeis.com”.

This study is a cross-sectional study and the researcher is bounded by time. Thus, after effecting all the recommendations from the second iteration, the researcher concluded the development process and proceeded to conduct a summative evaluation of the OITDAT. A successful development of an artefact is assessed by the contribution of the artefact to solving a real life problem (Hevner & Chatterjee, 2010; Markus et al., 2002; Peffers et al., 2007; Vaishnavi & Kuechler, 2012). This study proceeded to evaluate the OITDAT with SE owner- managers.

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Stage 1: Business Process Assessment Stage 2: IT/IS Assessment Stage 3: Other Criteria Assessment Stage 4: Architectural Principles Report Print Log out Logout Log out Log out PDF Email

7.5 Summary

This chapter presented in detail the procedures that led to the development of the OITDAT after three iterations of design and development. This chapter described the formative evaluation conducted to refine the MITDA and SIDTA, respectively. The next chapter describes the evaluation of the OITDAT with some selected SEs owner-managers. The evaluation of the OITDAT is considered as the summative evaluation. The findings from the summative evaluation are discussed in Chapter Eight.